Review Index

Reviews

2005 DVD & CD: Time after Time
Award wining film & soundtrack

2003 CD: Never Drift Apart

1999 Book: Celtic Women in Music: a Celebration of Beauty and Sovereignty
Published by Quarry Music Press (1999)

1998 CD: For Love's Caress: a Celtic Journey

1997 CD: A Celtic Evening
with Derek Bell featuring Maireid Sullivan

1994 CD: Dancer
produced by Donal Lunny

Selected Reviews

2005 DVD & CD: Time after Time
Award wining film & soundtrack

Don Heckman, Los Angeles Times, Nov. 20, 2005
See full LA Times review here.
Mairéid Sullivan and Ben Kettlewell
"Time After Time" (Lyrebird Media)
This colorful journey celebrates the cultures of Ireland, America and Australia in a flowing stream of music, poetry and visual imagery. Created by Irish singer Mairéid Sullivan and guitarist Ben Kettlewell, the film includes songs from Sullivan's CDs, poetry readings and speeches from great Native Americans, juxtaposed against pictures reaching from a close-up of a tiny Australian butterfly to a view of the expanding universe. Rich, embracing and informative as music and video, "Time After Time" is an exhilarating example of visual world music at its best.

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2003 CD: Never Drift Apart

Mike Daly, THE AGE Green Guide, Melbourne, Australia
November 13, 2003
Keynotes
**** Never Drift Apart
Mairéid Sullivan
(Lyrebird Media LBM003)
Irish songstress and Celtic chronicler Mairéid Sullivan is back after seven years overseas. Possessing a rich, pure voice and a poet’s vision, she has distilled her experiences into an exceptional new CD. Sullivan knows few musical boundaries and the genres on this locally produced record range from contemporary to traditional, from folk and pop to ambient new-age textures (provided by Sullivan’s partner, accomplished American guitarist, Ben Kettlewell). Other key contributors include violinist Matthew Arnold, bassist Joe Creighton, and percussionist Peter Neville. Sullivan’s music soothes and uplifts, particularly the opening title track. Her haunting cover of Ry Cooder’s classic Across the Borderline, Tommy Makem’s beautiful The Curlew Song and a gorgeous rendition of Eric Clapton’s River of Tears are standouts.
Never Drift Apart is available at ABC shops and good record stores or online at www.maireid.com

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1999 Book: Celtic Women in Music: a Celebration of Beauty and Sovereignty

Professor Frank Mills, (Celtic Studies) Marylhurst University, Oregon, USA
Editor of Brigit's Feast (Celtic Journal), March 2000
Excerpt:
... It's not just a few speaking from the heart. It's every woman interviewed. Mairéid has a way about her that creates a deep intimacy with those whom she converses. Mairéid and I have discussed this. While she might disagree with me, I think it is her unique sense of her own spirituality that brings this about. Mairéid is on what she calls a "personal mission:" A mission that has no fixed boundaries, no preconceived expectations, just a deep desire to fulfill her life's purpose, however that unfolds. The book is but one example of this. Her music, too, is indicative of this spiritual mission. Australian writer Gary Lewis' interview of Mairéid at the beginning of Celtic Women in Music brings out Mairéid's sense of mission and sets the pace for Mairéid's interviews. ... >>>more

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1998 CD: For Love's Caress: a Celtic Journey

John O'Regan, Rock 'N' Reel, 1998, Limerick, Ireland
...a bold, daring and courageous album full of unexpected twists and delightful turns.....
a sweet oasis of transcendental delight.

Peggy Randall, Napra Review, 1998, Washington
Every once in awhile a song brings tears to my eyes. Every great once in a while a quality of voice makes the hair stand up on my arms, and few and far between are lyrics that strike my heart dead center. Sullivan's long awaited new release does all those things and this ain't no bull--several of the cuts managed all three at once. This is not traditional Celtic by the stretch of anyone's imagination. It has the grit of a hard-core Nashville production, the yearning honesty of Tracy Chapman, and the real-woman feminine appeal of Emmy Lou. Yet, Irish-born Sullivan is not straying far from her Bardic roots with these intensely poetic compositions deeply informed by Gaelic musical influences; and her sweet quavering voice is genuinely Irish in inflection. What separates her from the other Celtic divas is that you sense there is real blood pumping in her veins; that she has walked down the rocky road of life and still has the rousing passion of the Irish to celebrate it. Cheers, Mairéid, you knocked me down and tied me up.

Kevin Maxwell, Music Manager, Bodhi Tree, 1998, Los Angeles
All the elements of great Celtic music come together in this brilliant recording. Listening enraptured, lovingly caressed by Maireid Sullivan's magic, one feels as though they are Anam Chara, 'soul friend' to this noble artist.

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1994 CD: Dancer
produced by Donal Lunny

Mike Daly - The AGE, Melbourne, Australia
Dancer , produced by the redoubtable Donal Lunny, adroitly balances tunes ancient and modern, filling the new with past cadences and the old with contemporary cues...a formidable ensemble that moves easily between folk, contemporary and classical genres ...irresistible...enchanting.

Graham McDonald, A modern angle on Celtic music,
Canberra Times, 15 Sept. 1994
A new disc which has haunted the CD player for the past couple of weeks is Dancer from Melbourne band Maireid. The band, put together by singer Maireid Sullivan, combines traditional Celtic music with a contemporary approach. The recording is a mix of traditional songs and those written by Sullivan, which also have a Celtic flavour.

It is a recording with moments of utter beauty and layers of understated instrumentation. Maireid's distinctive voice weaves through the textures. The band is basically violin, guitar, keyboards and percussion, augmented for the recording session by several others, including piper Dicky Deegan, Andy Irvine and Donal Lunny, who also handled the production. His sensitivity to contemporary Irish music can be heard throughout, although it is the band which provides the bulk of he ideas and arrangements.

Two tracks which stand out are Feeling Wings and The Sally Gardens. Feeling Wings sets words to a traditional tune that has had me humming for more than a week. The Sally Gardens is a well-known song, but this arrangement combines the song and the reel of the same name, with a feel like that of Planksty. Bouzoukis and mandolas set a rhythmic foundation through the song for the fiddle and the whistle to take over for the reel. The CD is distributed by Mushroom Distribution, and it is well worth a listen.